Seton Soles 5k: Saturday, April 17

This race was sponsored by my parents church and they both planned on running so I thought it would be fun to join them. In the end, it WAS fun to be with them, but I have yet to learn to love the 5k. I got there early to register and then drove to my parents house. We just walked to the church and I did about a 15 minute warm-up. The first mile was at about an 8 minute mile and then I did 4x100 strides to get my legs moving a little quicker.

Thinking we would get rained on the whole morning, it never actually rained at all. My first mile was good, 7:14 and then I freaked out a little and thought, "I can't keep that up, I'm not that fast!!" It's frustrating that I let that negative chatter dominate my actions, I'm working on it. I think the best thing for me in a race is to not wear my watch. If I just focus on how I'm feeling and not let that "watch anxiety" get to me I seem to do better. Anyway, finished in 23:56. Still a dramatic improvement from last year, just not a PR. I was 2nd in my Age Group and 10th Overall Female. Both my parents also ran this race and it was fun to cheer them on!! I feel so incredibly luck to have such active parents.

After the race Dad and I changed into bike gear and biked to Einstein's for a bagel. We did a 20 mile loop together and as he headed back home I headed to the local trail to get in as many miles as I could before it poured. 10 miles later it still hadn't rained (woo hoo!) and so I went out for the longer loop again. I ended up with my planned 45 and didn't experience but a couple drops of rain.

Still not done for the day...ran for 30 minutes when I got off the bike. It had warmed up and the sun had even come out so I was feeling really thirsty. Overall though, I was feeling good and like I could keep a decent pace going. The last three weekends I've had long bricks like this. (Last week was 63 bike/9 run, week before was 45 bike/6 run) The negative self chatter always comes up when I'm running, I start thinking, "13 miles!!! How are you going to finish 13 miles at a decent pace after all that biking???" But...if I really step back and trust my training, I'm stronger than I've ever been and I know when race day comes in 4 weeks, I will finish, and I will meet my time goals. (at least, that's what my daily mantra tells me, lol) After 45 more bike miles today (Sunday) in the rain, I know my motivation is high and I will be ready!